FARGO -- A state trooper was treated for cuts after a drunken driving suspect he was chasing suddenly stopped his car in the middle of a county road and the trooper's squad car struck it, the Highway Patrol says.
Tyler Swanson, 32, Lisbon, N.D., was arrested and charged with drunken driving and fleeing a police officer, Patrol Sgt. Troy Hischer said Wednesday. Swanson was jailed in Valley City, N.D.
The name of the injured trooper was not released.
The chase began about 11 a.m. Wednesday, 10 miles east of Lisbon, and lasted 20 minutes before the suspect's car stopped and was struck by the squad car going 71 mph on a Ransom County gravel road south and east of Sheldon, Hischer said.
The suspect had stopped suddenly and the trooper did not see the car in the cloud of dust, Hischer said. The trooper tried to avoid the collision by swerving to the right and clipped the back of the suspect's car with his left rear tire before the squad car rolled three times down a steep embankment.
ADVERTISEMENT
The injured trooper was treated at a Fargo hospital for cuts from broken glass.
Hischer said the patrol car was a total loss.
-- Associated Press
